Crisis Prevention and Intervention (CPI) Services
Here at Harbor School we maintain a group of staff who have been trained in Non-violent Crisis Intervention through the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), an international organization with an excellent reputation for educating staff in safe, respectful and noninvasive methods for managing disruptive and assaultive behaviors.
The core philosophy behind the CPI organization is to maintain the Care, Welfare, Safety, and Security of both students and staff members. The ultimate objective is to de-escalate difficult situations that arise as early as possible by understanding students’ anxieties, body language and behaviors.
Harbor School has a crisis team who, along with the instructional and related services staff, provide an immediate response to any problem within the school at the earliest stages. The entire staff is trained several times a year, with a level of training depending upon their role.
How do we shape behaviors?
A priority at Harbor School is developing each individual’s ability to regulate their behaviors in a socially acceptable manner with the goal of being able to communicate their wants and needs appropriately. We fully embrace the philosophy that all behaviors communicate a message, and it is our job to decipher those messages.
At Harbor School, our Board Certified Behavior Analyst spends time getting to know the students, observing both academic time and social time. They observe a science lesson in our STEM lab and then have lunch with a group of students and participate in a game during leisure time. This comprehensive approach gives an insight into a student’s entire day, across different environments. Subsequently, she can offer suggestions to the classroom teachers and, if necessary, create a behavior modification plan. Teachers are responsible for collecting data to drive the plan forward. Plans and data are shared with the family and may also be part of a collaboration with our school social worker, school counselor, and perhaps our school clinician in conjunction with University Behavioral Health Care (UBHC).
Consistency and teamwork are the cornerstones of our program, helping students to understand social expectations and the positive interpersonal rewards associated with appropriately learning to manage their behaviors.
Harbor School's instructional staff have received professional development on the more contemporary principles and strategies of Applied Behavior Analysis. These strategies and interventions focus on meeting the students where they are and shaping behavior in an interactive way, which fosters growth in the area of communication and language. We pride ourselves in adhering to a child-centered, individualized approach.
Behavior Therapy Services may include:
- Application of behaviorally-based interventions and techniques
- Functional behavioral assessments
- Collaboration with instructional staff and related service professionals
- Behavioral intervention plan development
- Curriculum development based on the needs of the student
- Direct staff training
- Design and implementation of data collection
- Data analysis to monitor and determine the effectiveness of interventions
- Parent assistance and training
The focus of the science of ABA is to determine why students engage in problem behaviors through careful observation, data collection and targeted interventions. When the “function” of the behaviors have been discovered, socially appropriate replacement behaviors are taught to the students.
